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Topic: BenuBird Pro is now freeware! (Read 10383 times)

Hello. Whilst perusing the Bits du Jour site I came across an announcemnt in the Pulse section that Benubird Pro was being relaunched as BenuBird PDF and is now freeware. Here is the link to the BenuBird site. BenuBird Pro

Therefore, we’ve made some small changes to Benubird such as in-built PDF Preview, moveable repository/library and PDF metadata to file metadata syncing. And whilst we work behind-the-scenes on bolting on an even greater range of PDF features and options, we’re making the current version freeware....

BTW — don’t worry, if you’re a paid-for-customer of the original Benubird Pro, we appreciate your support and we’re going to be offering you a free-upgrade to the commercial Benubird PDF Pro upon release.

It took me a while to get the significance of the fact that this is a data warehouse app, not an indexer. When you import into the app, it copies the files into the application- not just indexing it in place. So if you import 300GB into it, it will take 300GB of space for the DB. I don't think this is the app for everyone for that reason- if you'd prefer to manage your files yourself, then it won't really fit your paradigm. But I was tiring of moving my documents around my HD to organize them, and this way I don't have to- I set up whatever kind of view I want, and the document stays in the database.

I have Benubird Pro and have been using it for a couple of months. Initially, I had trouble figuring it out but, after half an hour or so of tinkering with it, I got the hang of it on a basic level. I have yet to plumb all its usages. The tagging component is good in that you can impute whatever pertinent information in the property field resulting in swift searches. You can access executive files as well. You can add new files from the dialogue box also. There are collection, sub-collection and smart collections for which files are made more quickly accessible. I haven't as yet utilized all its' features but what I have learnt how to do with this program is good. Best of all for novices like myself it's literally stupid proof. I have tried similiar applications and for me this was the most comprehensive.

I haven't installed to try yet but it looks like the type of application I've been trying to locate. I am accumulating more and more documents in pdf format. Manuals, correspondence, etc. Also trying to reduce the number of magazines I have accumulated over time for the one or two articles that have been of interest. I'm scanning them and saving as a pdf.Sounds like this would provide the way of cataloging by keywords or index.Someone correct me if I'm off base.Anything else someone is familiar with that could also do this?

It will allow you to tag and catalog your items, but be aware that your pdfs will exist within Benubird's database. It's trivial to get them out again, but this can be off putting to some people. There are other apps that will tag them by keyword in place- Tag Everything is the one I used, but there are several others. It really depends on your approach to items- do you just want to be able to find them in the OS and get a different view of them? Or do you want to separate your document management from the OS completely?

BTW — don’t worry, if you’re a paid-for-customer of the original Benubird Pro, we appreciate your support and we’re going to be offering you a free-upgrade to the commercial Benubird PDF Pro upon release.

I sent this question to the developer on their blog. BenuBird Pro. According to the response I received, the free version will be modeled along the lines of those of AVG and AVG Pro. So I'm assuming there will be a paid for version and a free version offered up in the future release based upon AVG and other software which offer similar proprietary and free versions as well.

do you just want to be able to find them in the OS and get a different view of them? Or do you want to separate your document management from the OS completely?

This is something I haven't thought out completly. If this makes sense... my initial thought was something similar to a table of contents in a book. Or if you have ever cut or photocopied articles and placed them in a binder. It would have different chapters (or tabs if a notebook) broken down into different topics. ie (chap 1) laptop computers then link the appropriate (in this case) pdf file articles, (chap 2) DC forum postings, (Chap 3) lawn & garden, (chap 4) any other topic... and so on. I see this as working if there aren't a lot of files or some files could be listed under multiple chapters. Then more of an index would work better. I would want this to reside on my pc or probably an external drive so the links would stay consistent.Right now I have a combination of files in different folders with some written notes in another place of what they are. It would be nice to have it all in one easy to locate place. This may do it for me.